


As You Walk on By, Will You Call My Name?

by Pants (Smarty_Pants)



Series: Sincerely Yours, The Breakfast Club [1]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: 80s movies, Bad Puns, Boys In Love, Breakfast Club References, High School, Labels, M/M, Movie scene, Stevie doesn't help, Talking about movies, The Breakfast Club - Freeform, mozzarella sticks, the brat pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:27:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24207442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smarty_Pants/pseuds/Pants
Summary: David, Patrick, Stevie, Alexis and Ted watch "The Breakfast Club" and Stevie wants to know who was which character in high school. Set before 5.11 Meet the Parents“From the movie. You know, which were you?” She lists them off on her fingers as she speaks, “geek, snob, jock...badass...the uh...loser girl with the dandruff?” She shakes her head side to side as if flakes might fall to the table. David mouths an “ew” at the gesture.A smile sneaks across Stevie’s face when she realizes their group adds up to the same number as the kids in the film. David watches his best friend, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.“I’m just noticing that there are five of us and five in the movie. So, who’s who?” she says in her most innocent tone.“Like now?” David asks uncertainly. “Or back in high school?”“In high school,” she says. Apparently, Stevie wants to be a little troll herself tonight. David rolls his eyes and looks over at Patrick for moral support.“Ooooh, yes, Stevie!” Alexis claps excitedly, having caught on to Stevie’s vibe and loving it. “This could be like. A. Fun. Game.” She punctuates each word with a finger tap on the table in front of David.
Relationships: Alexis Rose & David Rose, Patrick Brewer & Alexis Rose, Patrick Brewer & Theodore "Ted" Mullens, Patrick Brewer/David Rose, Stevie Budd & Alexis Rose, Stevie Budd & David Rose, Stevie Budd & Patrick Brewer, Theodore "Ted" Mullens/Alexis Rose
Series: Sincerely Yours, The Breakfast Club [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1759621
Comments: 20
Kudos: 136
Collections: Reel Schitt's Creek Prompt Fest





	As You Walk on By, Will You Call My Name?

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [sullymygoodname](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sullymygoodname/pseuds/sullymygoodname) in the [Reel_Schitts_Creek](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Reel_Schitts_Creek) collection. 



> **Prompt:**  
>  High school AU, everyone has detention.
> 
> Not exactly an answer to the prompt you gave. But let’s just say there may be more to this story...

It’s the last five minutes of the movie.

_Claire leans over and kisses Bender on the neck. “Why’d you do that?” he asks, surprised._

David tightens his grip on his boyfriend’s hand and holds his breath for the payoff line.

_“Cause I knew you wouldn’t,” she replies._

David exhales softly. Like a purr. Patrick leans over and kisses David on the neck. “Hey. Do you—” he whispers. 

“Shh ssh, it’s almost over,” David replies.

_“You know how you said before, how your parents used you to get back at each other? Wouldn’t I be outstanding in that capacity?” They share a look. “Were you really disgusted about what I did with my lipstick?” she asks. “Truth?” “Truth.” He nods and tells her “no.” She grins._

_Finished with his essay, Brian lifts his paper and kisses it._

Alexis giggles. David gives his sister a raised eyebrow and, since she is within reach, a brotherly elbow. “Ouch, David. Ouch!” she hisses at him in the dark theater.

_Andrew and Allison are talking. “What happened to you?” “Why? Claire did it! What’s wrong?” “Nothing’s wrong, it’s just so different. I can see your face.” “Is that good or bad?” she asks shyly. He laughs. “It’s good!” He bites his lower lip. She smiles._

Alexis lowers her head to Ted’s shoulder. She smiles. “It’s good,” she whispers. He kisses her temple.

_Brian laughs and gives himself a congratulatory punch in the arm._

Ted laughs. He tightens his arm around Alexis.

_The five walk down the hall past Carl the custodian sweeping up. Brian nods at him. “See ya, Bri,” Carl says._

_“Hey, Carl,” Bender says, “See you next Saturday.” “You bet!” he responds._

_Brian gets in his dad’s car and leaves._

_Andrew and Allison kiss, Allison rips a patch off Andrew’s jacket and gets in the family car. Andrew’s dad arrives and looks at him, then at Allison. Andrew gets in the car and they drive off._

Patrick pulls his hand out of David’s as he starts to put on his jacket. David keeps his eyes glued to the screen and clasps his hands together.

_Claire takes out one of her diamond earrings and puts it into Bender’s hand. They kiss and she gets into her car. She leaves. Bender removes his other earring and puts the diamond in his ear._

David makes a small pleased noise in the back of his throat and starts twisting his silver rings.

_Vernon picks up Brian’s essay and begin to read:_

_“Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are._

_You see us as you want to see us…in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is_

_a brain…_

_and an athlete…_

_and a basket case…_

_a princess…_

_and a criminal._

_Does that answer your question?_

_Sincerely yours, the Breakfast Club.”_

_Bender walks across the football field and thrusts his fist into the air in a silent cheer. The image freezes._

“Fuck yeah,” Stevie murmurs from the end of the row. Only Patrick, sitting beside her, hears.

The five stand and shuffle out of their seats at the Elmdale Arthouse. They collectively pull up jacket hoods or open up umbrellas as they head out together into the wet night, Patrick humming the Simple Minds song that was playing over the credits. 

_Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling. Down down down…_

***

“So, which one were you?” Stevie asks, sliding into the booth at the café, bumping David’s hip and scooching him towards Patrick. Neither mind the forced closeness one bit as Patrick stretches his arm around David, his hand landing on a soft-sweatered shoulder, which he gives a little squeeze.

Ted and Alexis sit opposite the trio and like a brat David pushes the oversized menu across the formica tabletop to poke into his sister’s chest. 

“Stahhhhp, David, ugh!” Alexis shoots him daggers and he returns her his patented smirk. She shoves the menu back at him, the edges poking harmlessly into his Balenciaga sweater. “What?” he mouths, feigning innocence, as she not so subtly pretends to scratch her cheek with her middle finger.

No matter what may have changed—and improved in their relationship—sometimes David still just enjoys trolling Alexis. Especially tonight, when the teen vibe from the movie seems to be stirring up something in him, in all of them, not unlike what happened at Patrick’s housewarming party. Looking back at his high school years does not always take David to the greatest place. And he’s not alone—the whole group dynamic feels a little off.

“Choke on an ice cube, please…” David suggests to his sister. Patrick wordlessly takes the menus from the siblings and stacks them sideways against the wall. He takes David’s hand into his on his lap and interlaces their fingers. A mollified David turns to Stevie: “I’m sorry, which what was I?”

“From the movie. You know, which were you?” She lists them off on her fingers as she speaks, “geek, snob, jock…badass…the uh…loser girl with the dandruff?” She shakes her head side to side as if flakes might fall to the table. David mouths an “ew” at the gesture.

A smile sneaks across Stevie’s face when she realizes their group adds up to the same number as the kids in the film. David watches his best friend, his eyes narrowing suspiciously. 

“I’m just noticing that there are five of us and five in the movie. So, who’s who?” she says in her most innocent tone.

“Like now?” David asks uncertainly. “Or back in high school?”

“In high school,” she says. Apparently, Stevie wants to be a little troll herself tonight. David rolls his eyes and looks over at Patrick for moral support.

“Ooooh, yes, Stevie!” Alexis claps excitedly, having caught on to Stevie’s vibe and loving it. “This could be like. A. Fun. Game.” She punctuates each word with a finger tap on the table in front of David.

David huffs. He knows it would be better to stay silent in the face of this—whatever this is. He knows that. He tries that. Thirty seconds. One minute. Nope, Stevie needs to be corrected. So…

“So. Number one. Every single one of those labels you just used is incorrect with regard to this film,” he declares, finger extended up, voice rising. Patrick gently rubs circles on his boyfriend’s other hand, which has suddenly gone extra tense. “The geek—as you’re calling him—was actually ‘the brain’ in the movie, and was played by actor Anthony Michael Hall…” 

Patrick shifts in his seat as David delivers his TED Talk on the 1985 classic teen movie. Patrick finds himself wishing they could drop high school and _The Breakfast Club_ altogether and move on to something, anything else. He has been hearing about the Reel 80s Movie Fest for weeks now from David, who also insisted they attend this screening together as a group. Even having never seen the film before, Patrick had understood it wasn’t going to be a goofy comedy. Still, some of the movie’s more serious moments had surprised him and left him with a vague, unsettled feeling. 

“You may be thinking of his role as ‘the geek’ in _Sixteen Candles_ …” David continues, making exaggerated air quotes around the label, “another quintessential 80s movie from John Hughes and a classic romantic comedy…”

“Oh my god, chill, David,” Alexis says. “That vein in your eye is starting to throb.” 

David bares his teeth at his sister and hisses before returning attention to Stevie. He continues: “Incomparable 80s romcom queen and member of the so-called ‘Brat Pack,’ Molly Ringwald, also star of _Sixteen Candles_ and _Pretty in Pink_ , was ‘the princess’ in this movie, not ‘the snob.’ And Emilio Estevez…”

“Was another bratpacker, and so was Judd Nelson. Yeah, yeah, we’re not idiots, David,” Stevie interrupts.

“You very sure about that?” he asks with his head cocked to one side. “Because they were clearly the ‘athlete’,” he enunciates the word as Stevie rolls her eyes, “and the ‘criminal.’ Which leaves…um…” he trails off.

“Ally Sheedy,” offers Alexis.

“Yes, the lovely Ally Sheedy…as the sad little ‘basket case.’”

“Geek/brain, loser/basket case, jock/athlete. Whatever. You knew what I meant,” Stevie laughs. “And my point stands. We were all basically one of those, weren’t we?” 

“Speak for yourself,” David says. Patrick looks uncomfortable and David feels that layered on top of his own discomfort.

“Do you think I’d speak for you? I don’t even know your language!” quips Stevie. The rest of the group look at her a bit baffled. “Wha-at? It was from the movie! When Bender the badass tells Sporto to shut up.”

David nods. “Yes, yes. John Bender. The _criminal_.” Again, the friends exchange over-enunciation and eye-rolls. 

“Anyway, I’m really thinking maybe that’s who I was—the character I would’ve been,” Stevie says. “I was pretty tough in high school. Got myself into trouble a few times.”

“Oh. But I thought you _got_ _the guy_ ,” David says, in a mocking nasally tone. He shimmies his shoulders, lips quirking into a smirk as he remembers her yearbook photo. “Come to think of it, are you sure though you weren’t the princess? You did have a not dissimilar hairstyle to Molly.” David widens his eyes in mock innocence as he makes hand gestures to his own head indicating a chin-length bob cut. He hears Patrick snort behind him and is pleased to have shaken his boyfriend out of his mood at least enough to make him laugh.

“Ooh, Stevie. With your complexion and coloring, you do sort of favor Ally Sheedy,” Alexis says, reaching out to toy with Stevie’s shiny brown hair.

“Um, yeah no. No chance. I was not that loser girl,” Stevie says, pulling her hair out of Alexis’s grasp. “But you— You’re easy to peg though, Alexis. Definitely a pr—”

“Badass.”

“Mmm?”

“Stevie, I’m, like, surprised at you. You’ve heard at least a dozen of my stories. I mean, honestly, do you know anyone else who has successfully navigated away from both Somali pirates _and_ Sean Penn?” Stevie ponders this for a minute and then gives Alexis a respectful nod. “Hey, I might walk through my life in really nice shoes but I’m way tougher than a princess.” 

Ted, who has only been half following the conversation, perks up. “You’re _my_ princess though,” he says, wrapping his arms around Alexis. “Aren’t you, babe? I’m not just _throne_ that out there.”

“Oh, Ted! Awww. But ew,” she responds, booping his nose. “You’re sweet…and also so wrong. I’m the badass.” They share a smile.

_“Criminal!”_ David accidentally shrieks and they all turn to look at him. He clears his throat and continues, in a lower pitch, “In the film, that character is the criminal, as I previously stated. Look if you two are going to battle over that label, go right ahead. But, well…I’m claiming Molly then.” Alexis throws some side eye her brother’s way.

“What? She’s clearly the only person in the film who can dress well, who has a discerning eye, who has high standards for herself, who appreciates…”

“Money?” says Stevie. “Like a snob?”

“No, no, not like a snob! More like a princess—I mean, or whatever, we can say prince! But we don’t have to be overly gendered about it,” David insists. “I’m fine with princess, prince, princeling…”

“Are you _my_ prince though? Prince David?” Patrick asks cheesily, echoing Ted’s words. “Should I order you a _royal tea_?”

Ted’s eyes light up. “Good one!” he says appreciatively to Patrick.

Alexis ignores them. “Ted would be the athlete obviously,” she says, running her hand across his chest and squeezing his bicep appreciatively. David and Patrick exchange a look. 

“Well, I mean he goes to the gym…” David says under his breath to Patrick and they both swallow a laugh at the inside joke. The housewarming party wasn’t _that_ long ago.

“Oh, Button…ugh. Did you want to be the athlete, too?” Alexis shakes her head. “Well, you are obviously not the basket case or criminal. And with all your spreadsheets and business charts… and, oh, oh, you were the geek! I mean it’s OK to admit you were the geek. Err—yes, David, _brain_ ,” she corrects herself under her brother’s withering stare.

“Admit it! Brain!” “Admit it! Button!” Stevie and Alexis chant.

“Oh. Well. I guess I’ll admit I don’t like this game,” Patrick says, his shoulders tensing. “And, just for the record, I played varsity baseball for four years,” he adds.

Just then, Twyla comes over to the table and Patrick offers silent thanks to the universe at the interruption. She drops a plate of mozzarella sticks for the table with a wink at David and Patrick. “Here you go. On me. I’ll be back to get your drink orders in a few minutes, kay?”

“So…so. So. What else are we ordering? Should we get some more appetizers? Who wants onion rings?” Patrick asks, in hopes of distracting the group from the topic at hand, wanting to move onto anything else. Fortunately for him, Twyla comes back quickly to get everyone’s food and drink orders squared away. The conversation wanders to other topics and Patrick’s shoulders relax, until, like a dog with a bone, Stevie brings it back.

“Okay, let’s see where we are. We’ve got two badass bitches.” Stevie points to herself and Alexis; they high-five. “Two basic jocks and one…grumpy prince? That doesn’t seem remotely correct, not like any high school I know. Sounds more to me like no one wants to actually admit to being a geek or a loser.” She pulls out her phone. 

“Here. From IMDB, I’ll read a classic line from each character in the movie. Whoever we decide this sounds most like, then that is you. Okay. First, how about this: ‘I hate it. I hate having to go along with everything my friends say.’”

“Alexis,” they all say together, except Alexis who narrows her eyes, then admits, yes, okay, it does sound like her.

“Next,” Stevie reads, “‘You see us as you want to see us in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions.’” _Patrick_ , says Alexis. _Ted_ , say Stevie and David. Patrick and Ted say nothing, just look at each other and shrug.

“Okay, then that’s a tossup. Well, how about: ‘We’re all pretty bizarre. Some of us are just better at hiding it. That’s all.’?”

“Oh, that one might be Patrick actually,” says Alexis. The others nod. Patrick shifts in his seat and David, noticing, lays his hand on his thigh.

“Screws fall out all the time. The world is an imperfect place,” Stevie offers. 

“That’s definitely you,” says David.

“Yup. I know. The _badass_ ,” she responds, smirking. Alexis signals her agreement.

“ _Smartass_ is more like it,” David mumbles.

She reads the last one: “When you grow up, your heart dies,” and her eyes dart over to David.

“I— well, I’m not…” he says huffily. “Look, I don’t think…” The faces around the table all mirror back his own dawning realization. He sighs. “Okay. What exactly was wrong with Ally Sheedy anyway? She was secretly gorgeous, a beautiful artist, kind, lonely, treated badly by the others...”

Stevie nods. “Yes, David, lean into it.”

“Oh god,” he groans. “I’m the basket case, aren’t I?”

Twyla comes back with their order and they all dig in. Patrick steers the conversation to a fresh topic. And Stevie finally drops it.

***

“Hey, are you okay?” David asks once they get back to Patrick’s apartment. He snakes his arms around Patrick’s waist. “You got quiet back at the café. Then you stayed quiet.”

“Umm, I—”

“You can tell me, honey. There’s something. Was it the movie? Was it Stevie? I love her but she’s really horrible. Really. So much of the time.” Patrick gave him a half-smile, knowing that David would do just about anything for that little brunette demon, their best friend.

“Yeah, no. Not Stevie, not her little game tonight. I guess it was just that movie. I keep thinking about Emilio Estevez, his character.”

“The _ath_ —” David starts and then Patrick stops him, nodding. 

“Yeah, the athlete. It’s just that he was trying so hard to please his dad, to please his parents and be the son they wanted that he kind of missed this huge thing about who he was.”

David pulls Patrick in even closer and his hands reach up to squeeze his shoulders reassuringly. Patrick continues, “If he’d never gotten detention, if he never had that experience, I wonder how long he’d have kept on trying to impress them. How long he’d have kept parts of himself from them.”

“Hey,” David says, waiting until Patrick’s eyes meet his. “He would have figured it out.”

“Yeah.” Patrick looks away. David isn’t sure how to bring him back to the present moment but he’s going to try. 

“Patrick…” he starts, hoping to find some way to infuse his words with all the love he feels for the man before him. “You aren’t that character. Or any character. You’re you. You’re Patrick Brewer and nobody gets to tell you who you are.” Patrick’s eyes return to search David’s face. He continues, “Look, honey, I’m sure you were some kind of a jock in high school, playing the baseball and oh, with these luscious forearms.” A faint smile pulls at the corners of Patrick’s mouth. “But you are also my beautiful, brilliant business partner. That smart spreadsheet brain didn’t come out of nowhere.” David gently caresses Patrick’s cheek with his thumb. Patrick looks up at him gratefully, his heart in his eyes.

“So what if maybe in your life you’ve fit a role sometimes. Maybe you were the athlete or maybe the brain. You know you are so much more than that. You are creative, honey, you are sensitive, you are strong. Look even now what you are doing in the show, what the emcee role is bringing out of you…” Patrick nods as David’s words sink in. “High school kids, they have no idea who they are. We’re all still figuring it out.”

“Yeah,” Patrick says. “Yes, David. You’re right. Thank you.” He pulls him in for a gentle kiss. And another. And another.

“Hey, what were you going to say?” David asks when their mouths part.

“Hmmm?”

“In the penultimate scene of the movie with Claire and John, when she kisses him on his neck, you started to say something. I shushed you.”

“Oh, I— it was nothing,” Patrick says, sighing and nuzzling into David’s collarbone. “Just. That reminded me of us when she said that line. He asks, ‘Why’d you do that?’ and she says, ‘Because I knew you wouldn’t.’”

“Mmm. That romantic scene reminded you of us? That’s not nothing.” David feels Patrick’s lips starting to move on his neck with hot open-mouthed kisses. The sensation is like a drug hitting David’s bloodstream. He suddenly knows the best way to shake off the weird vibe of the night and it involves this gorgeous man before him getting very naked very soon.

“David, when you kissed me for the first time in the car on your birthday, I wanted that so much. But I honestly don’t know if I would have ever done it on my own. When I heard that line in the movie, I was just thinking of you being brave, doing that knowing maybe I wouldn’t—or couldn’t—”

David pulls Patrick in tighter, letting his hands wander up and down his back as he murmurs into his hair. “Oh okay, now you listen. Stevie is wrong. We aren’t stereotypes. We aren’t stuck in one identity. That is actually the whole point of the movie.”

And with that David concludes his TED Talk.

What he has said—it’s not news—but somehow it puts the evening right-side-up again to say it out loud. The high school memories get tucked back away where they belong.

Patrick leans back to look at David’s face and is dazzled by the love shining in his boyfriend’s eyes. He feels firmly grounded—and that’s all he needs. His hands cup the sides of David’s face, seizing his mouth in a much deeper, hotter kiss. His tongue parts David’s lips, searching. Their bodies press together, fitting the other perfectly.

“Hey,” David whispers into Patrick’s mouth, “It’s bedtime…”

“Mmm, yes.” Patrick kisses him again and again. Something occurs to him and he starts to smile into his kiss and then speaks, his lips against David’s lips: “Hey, I have just one more question. What happened to you in high school?”

“Nothing,” David pulls his face back, raises one eyebrow. “I just— I didn’t like it.”

“Mmm. Yeah. No, I get it. I like this much, much better,” Patrick says, kissing him deeply again. They smile, wrapped up in each other’s arms. “I guess we’re pretty lucky that when you grow up, your heart doesn’t actually die.”

He starts to hum the song that has been in the back of his mind all night since they left the theater. “Going to take you apart,” he sings softly, “I’ll put us back together at heart. Baby, don’t you forget about me…”

And Patrick slow-dances the love of his life to the bed.

**Author's Note:**

> All my heartfelt thanks to [8jodaiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/8jodaiko/pseuds/8jodaiko) who has been an incredible friend, cheerleader and beta to me. I couldn't ask for anyone better in my corner.


End file.
